renardo870 Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 Pace Ridership Surges to 78% of Pre-Pandemic Levels www.pacebus.com Continued recovery anticipated with June 2 service enhancements ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL – Pace is seeing more and more riders use its system, earning back a large portion of its pre-pandemic ridership, with more service enhancements, increased weekend service, and efficiencies on the way. At yesterday’s meeting of the Pace Board of Directors, encouraging post-pandemic ridership and service updates underscored the progress Pace is making to attract new and existing riders to its family of services. The average weekday ridership in April 2024 throughout Pace’s system was approximately 78 percent of pre-pandemic weekday ridership in April 2019. Furthermore, Pace saw its ADA paratransit ridership fully return to its pre-pandemic level this past March. “Pace’s ridership numbers are trending in the right direction, and we are seeing the benefits of our staff’s hard work and dedication to respond to the pandemic and develop innovative service improvements,” said Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger. “Ever since the pandemic began, we’ve launched new transportation options and focused on creating a more efficient system that can best serve our passengers’ evolving needs, and we’re seeing our riders respond accordingly.” New options like the Pulse Dempster rapid transit line and Pace’s Rideshare Access Program (RAP), which began this past winter, provide our riders with responsive and frequent service. RAP gives ADA-certified paratransit riders a discounted rideshare option to travel destinations throughout Pace’s six-county service area for the first time. Additional service enhancements and efficiencies are on the way. During the meeting, Board Directors discussed several pilot programs, effective in June, designed to serve increased ridership on the weekends. Due to higher levels of Sunday riders, Pace Route 318 soon will begin service one hour earlier on Sundays and end one hour later, along with increased frequency — with buses being available approximately every 20 to 30 minutes. The change is a part of a pilot program that takes effect Sunday, June 2. Route 318 mainly operates along North Avenue, between the CTA Blue Line Forest Park Transit Center and Northlake Commons in west suburban Northlake. As part of that same pilot program, weekend service and frequency along Pace Route 381 in the south suburbs also will increase due to high ridership totals. Saturday service will begin a half-hour earlier and end an hour-and-a-half later. Sunday service will begin two hours earlier and end one hour later. The frequency of Route 381 service also will increase on weekends and weekdays — with buses being available approximately every 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the day. Route 381 mainly operates along 95th Street between the CTA Red Line 95th/Dan Ryan Station and Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills. Effective June 2, Pace Route 332 also will have four more overnight trips on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays to provide service to late-night riders, especially third-shift workers who need to connect to the cargo area south of O’Hare International Airport from the CTA Blue Line station in Rosemont and vice versa. “We are encouraged by the latest service enhancements and ridership numbers,” said Pace Chairman Rick Kwasneski. “It’s a new world when it comes to travel post-pandemic, and Pace continues to work within its resources and adapt to meet our riders’ needs for public transportation that’s accessible around the clock.” For more information on Pace’s services, visit www.pacebus.com/service-types. ### 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 5 hours ago, renardo870 said: Pace Ridership Surges to 78% of Pre-Pandemic Levels That's somewhat deceptive, as it also said: 5 hours ago, renardo870 said: Pace saw its ADA paratransit ridership fully return to its pre-pandemic level this past March. No way fixed route ridership has returned to that level, with the 2023 legal notice saying 63 routes were permanently suspended (I'm not counting routes like 182, which are late variations of other feeders). 5 hours ago, renardo870 said: Effective June 2, Pace Route 332 also will have four more overnight trips on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays to provide service to late-night riders, especially third-shift workers who need to connect to the cargo area south of O’Hare International Airport from the CTA Blue Line station in Rosemont and vice versa. Apparently, the TNC wasn't adequate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renardo870 Posted May 28 Author Report Share Posted May 28 (edited) On 5/21/2024 at 8:21 PM, Busjack said: Apparently, the TNC wasn't adequate. https://www.pacebus.com/notice/pace-connect-ohare-service-discontinuation Looks like you called this one on the money, @Busjack. Edited May 28 by renardo870 Updated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renardo870 Posted May 28 Author Report Share Posted May 28 (edited) https://www.pacebus.com/notice/pace-connect-harvey-service-discontinuation Maybe the overnight ridership in the Harvey area was non-existent. Edited May 29 by renardo870 Added info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted May 28 Report Share Posted May 28 22 minutes ago, renardo870 said: https://www.pacebus.com/notice/pace-connect-harvey-service-discontinuation The overnight ridership was non-existent. Considering the large loss of ridership on the 352 cited by @Busjack, I'm surprised that Pace hasn't discontinued the owl service also. If there's no owl ridership, there's no Pace connect ridership. Could the lowered Metra Electric fares have played even a small role in affecting 452 ridership? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyerMCI Posted May 28 Report Share Posted May 28 3 hours ago, artthouwill said: Considering the large loss of ridership on the 352 cited by @Busjack, I'm surprised that Pace hasn't discontinued the owl service also. If there's no owl ridership, there's no Pace connect ridership. Do we know that the large loss in ridership for the 352 is just from lack of recovery during owl service? The threshold for "normal" there should be lower than during the day, so how do we know the 352 didn't slough off a bunch of peak or midday riders? There's no way to tell from just RTAMS data, and it's still the busiest Pace bus route. 3 hours ago, artthouwill said: Could the lowered Metra Electric fares have played even a small role in affecting 452 ridership? If it did, I doubt it was anything beyond small. $3 Metra fare is nice, but still meant folks who needed to transfer would've still paid extra and MED isn't useful for anyone not going to CSU, Hyde Park/UofC or downtown. FTSC probably incentivized more folks to take Metra, but probably not too many from existing CTA and/or Pace riders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 13 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said: Do we know that the large loss in ridership for the 352 is just from lack of recovery during owl service? The threshold for "normal" there should be lower than during the day, so how do we know the 352 didn't slough off a bunch of peak or midday riders? There's no way to tell from just RTAMS data, and it's still the busiest Pace bus route. If it did, I doubt it was anything beyond small. $3 Metra fare is nice, but still meant folks who needed to transfer would've still paid extra and MED isn't useful for anyone not going to CSU, Hyde Park/UofC or downtown. FTSC probably incentivized more folks to take Metra, but probably not too many from existing CTA and/or Pace riders. You are right. There's no way to really know where the loss came from. I only mentioned the owl service because that would've been the primary source for Pace Connect riders to access the Pace Connect service. It's possible that riders didn't know about ir chose not to use that service. It's also possible that there's little to no ridership at the Harvey Transit Center, but maybe the bulk of owl ridership is north of either 127th or Sibley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 4 hours ago, renardo870 said: https://www.pacebus.com/notice/pace-connect-ohare-service-discontinuation Looks like you called this one on the money, @Busjack. From the wording of this alert, I'm not sure I was. The alert said: "Pace Connect – O’Hare is being discontinued due to the service performance measures established for the pilot not being met. " The best I can figure out is that Pace Connect ran all night, but the only need was at shift changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyerMCI Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 1 hour ago, artthouwill said: You are right. There's no way to really know where the loss came from. I only mentioned the owl service because that would've been the primary source for Pace Connect riders to access the Pace Connect service. It's possible that riders didn't know about ir chose not to use that service. It's also possible that there's little to no ridership at the Harvey Transit Center, but maybe the bulk of owl ridership is north of either 127th or Sibley 1 hour ago, Busjack said: From the wording of this alert, I'm not sure I was. The alert said: "Pace Connect – O’Hare is being discontinued due to the service performance measures established for the pilot not being met. " The best I can figure out is that Pace Connect ran all night, but the only need was at shift changes. This prompted me to look: In the blurb talking about Pace Connect - Harvey, they make a mention of the 352 connection being possible, but I know there are shift routes there too. Checking the 360 & 361, seems like a missed opportunity. They get back too late in the morning to connect, but if you were trying to catch the bus to the factory, it might only have been possible Sunday & Monday mornings (unless you were willing to wait at Harvey TC for at least 15 mins, potentially much longer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted May 29 Report Share Posted May 29 12 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said: Checking the 360 & 361, seems l Essentially, these are like the UPS routes: Amazon sets its work hours and pays the subsidy. Unless Amazon changes it shift changes, there might be a half hour wait at the Harvey TC, but that's better than no Owl service except for UPS on any other route. Similar to 511 and 512 in Joliet, where, pre-Covid, Pace said that for any expansion, employers would have to provide a shuttle from an Elwood transit center, because the Pace bus couldn't make all the shift changes. Anyway, the point of Pace Connect was that anyone taking the owl 352 had no way to get to or from the TC in the Harvey and South Holland area, but apparently there were few such people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renardo870 Posted May 29 Author Report Share Posted May 29 https://www.pacebus.com/notice/route-421-service-change Added AM EB run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renardo870 Posted May 29 Author Report Share Posted May 29 (edited) Service improvements on Route 381 95th Street daily. https://www.pacebus.com/notice/route-381-service-change Edited May 29 by renardo870 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renardo870 Posted May 31 Author Report Share Posted May 31 https://www.pacebus.com/notice/route-530-service-change New routing along Galena and Nelson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.